Comfort in an Unlikely Place
by Catsrawesome
Summary: We all know Rick's explanation on how he wrote the PJO series: because he is a writer for CHB. What if that was true? When Leo invents a virus that would allow demigods to use the internet without attracting monsters, he tests it out on, out of all the websites, Fanfiction. There, he finds 50K stories about his and his friends life. But there, he can also finally be himself.
1. I Find the Dreaded Website

**Hi everyone!**

**So, this is catsrawesome once again here with a new story! So pretty much, Rick published PJO and HOO and Leo is finds fanfiction. You pretty much get the idea.**

**I hope you like it!**

Leo's POV

I was so excited.

For decades, demigods were unable to look anything up, or make phone calls, or anything involving the internet. But I, Leo Valdez, had done it. I invented a virus that would permit that without attracting unwanted attention. By unwanted attention, I meant then attention of monsters that wanted to eat you that were somehow always hungry. I guess that monsters are always hungry in horror movies.

I doubt that any of them were scarier than what was about to happen to me.

As I planted the virus in an ordinary laptop (you don't know _what _I had to give the Stolls for them to smuggle it in for me), I thought about all of the cool stuff that I, and all other demigods, would be able to do. I could finally find out what this 'Twilight' stuff was about. Everyone was talking about it, and I have no idea why someone would name a book after a time of night. And I need to find out who this 'Edward' person was.

I waited anxiously as the screen turned black, and then glowed green. After a few minutes, it stopped glowing, and it asked for the password. I quickly type _Festus_ and wait for the desktop to pop up. I hesitate before I click on 'Internet Explorer'. I wasn't sure what to look up, so I pressed the 'F' key and clicked enter. The first option was Facebook, and the second was about some motor company. I absentmindedly pressed the third option, not knowing what it was.

Even within Camp Half Blood, if someone looked something up, we would hear the roars of monsters struggling to get through the boundary. I waited a minute. Five minutes. Ten minutes.

Nothing.

I smiled, than looked at what website I actually looked up. There were three bars. The one on the bottom said 'News', which suggested that this was some news site. The second bar said 'Crossovers', which discarded my first guess. The first bar said 'Fanfiction'.

Confused, I looked at the top. On the left it said 'Fanfiction: Unleash Your Imagination'. On the other side were the words 'Log in' and 'Sign up'. Curious about this website, I pressed 'Sign up'. It asked for my username, email, and password. After some thought, I put in the username 'SmokingHotMechanic101' and used my email 'BoyonFire ' that I made up when I was younger. I rarely used it though. I then typed my password in and signed up. It then asked me to accept these guidelines, which I did, and then I typed a four-digit code. My account was set.

I soon figured out that the website was stories people posted based on already published stories, and immediately classified this as 'Athena Material' and was about to log out. But my hand slipped and I accidentally clicked 'Books'. I groaned as I moved the arrow on the screen to the 'Log out' button. I saw that the most fanfics were written on the 'Harry Potter' series, which didn't surprise me. The arrow was halfway up the screen as I looked at the second option: 'Twilight'. Also not a surprise. Then I suddenly stopped, and my jaw dropped. The arrow lingered on the 'Log out' button.

The third option was 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

**Sorry it is short, but it will get better! please review if you want the next chapter! you are awesome!**

**catsrawesome**


	2. One Paragraph all about Me

**Hey!**

**I got eight reviews! It just makes my day reading them! This chapter is a little longer than the first one, and they will get longer!  
I just want to add that any reviewers will actually BE in this story (unless you don't want to)! Leo finds fanfiction, so of course he is going to post some stories! And I can't just make up reviewers!**

**so anyway, here is chapter two!**

Leo's POV

It took me five whole minutes to regain myself.

Why was there a book about Percy? Who would write a book like that? How?

Good thing I was able to use the internet.

When I was able to use my hands again, I typed in _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_. The first option was 'Wikipedia', which sounded good. On the second line were the words 'written by Rick Riordan'. I remembered that guy. He only came here during the summer, but when he did, he immediately asked to see Jason. The next day, he needed to see Piper. On the third day, he asked to see me.

I wasn't very nervous. It was common knowledge that he was just a mortal with the ability to see through the Mist, like Rachel, and that he didn't have any powers. But he was almost as smart as a son of Athena, and is amazing at looking at a problem in more than one way. For that reason, he was given a room in the Big House, but we still have no idea what he does in there.

So, when he asked to see me, he suggested somewhere private, so I led him to Bunker Nine. He sat opposite me and asked me to tell him everything that happened since the trip to the Grand Canyon. It surprised me because one, why would he want that information? He answered because he wanted records that could be a guide to future demigods. The second reason was because he must have asked Piper and Jason the same question, and how would my version be any better? To that, he answered that there were some things that happened when only I was around on conscious, and that some things were more interesting on my point of view. So I recounted everything, Rick nodding his head and occasionally asking 'And how does that make you feel?', making me feel like I was at a mental hospital or something.

I remember when I came out that Percy was asked to come with him. Annabeth was worried, and Percy had responded, "Don't worry. I have done this before." I thought it must have been a recounting of the Second Titan War. I kept looking at the website, and discovered this was actually a five book series. I caught a few names, but the information I really wanted was at the bottom: the characters.

This is what I found:

**Percy Jackson:** age 12–16; demigod son of Poseidon; the protagonist of the series and appears in all five books.

So far, it matched up. He was a son of Poseidon, and he found out that he was a demigod when he was twelve. The war ended when he was exactly sixteen (talk about an exciting birthday).

**Grover Underwood:** age 28–32; the satyr best friend of Percy; portrayed as teenager since satyrs age half as fast as humans; appears in all five books.

I have heard of that satyr, and don't really see him often. It is true that he is Percy's best friend, so again this is accurate.

**Annabeth Chase:** age 12–16; demigod daughter of Athena; best friend and (later) girlfriend of Percy; and appears in all five books.

Annabeth was Percy's girlfriend, and she was a daughter of Athena. This confirms that this is about Percy. I wasn't really sure before because Percy and Jackson were both common names.

**Luke Castellan:** age 19–23; demigod son of Hermes; an antagonist of the series; serves Kronos; sacrificed for the peace of Olympians, appears in all five books.

I have heard only bits and pieces of him. When I asked the Stolls about him, even _they _seemed reluctant to talk about him, and they are willing to talk about _anything _no matter how forbidden. Now I knew: he was their half brother.

**Thalia Grace:** age 15; immortal demigod daughter of Zeus; lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis; formerly the tree that guarded Camp Half-Blood; appears in _The Sea of Monsters_, _The Titan's Curse_, and _The Last Olympian_.

I don't see how anyone could have just come up with the idea that a girl named Thalia used to be a tree all by them self.

**Nico di Angelo:** age 10–12; demigod son of Hades; ignored by Camp Half-Blood due to parentage; Bianca's brother; holds authority over the dead; appears in _The Titan's Curse_, _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, and _The Last Olympian_. It is also hinted in _The Last Olympian_ that he had already discovered Camp Jupiter when he was in one of Percy's dreams in the California area. In _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, Nico wants revenge over his dead sister and he wants a soul to bring his sister back to life.

There it is. Camp Jupiter. It also concerns us. And that is why Nico is always so sad. It is because of his sister. I suddenly felt pity for the son of Hades.

**Tyson:** Percy's half-brother; a Cyclops; has an ability to withstand fire and lava; he is skilled with machines; acts like a child; appears in _The Sea of Monsters_, _The Titan's Curse_, _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, and _The Last Olympian_.

Tyson is Percy's _brother?_ I knew that they were good friends, but that is a little over the top. Normally, I would be thinking about how much blackmail material I had just gotten, but some part of me told me otherwise.

**Clarisse La Rue:** age 14–18; demigod daughter of Ares; does not get along with Percy; she is very combative. Appears in _The Lightning Thief_, _The Sea of Monsters_, _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, and _The Last Olympian_.

I was now thinking, _Well, duh! _Everyone here knows that Clarisse and Percy don't get along.

**Rachel Elizabeth Dare:** age 14–16, a clear-sighted mortal girl who assists Percy by seeing through the Mist; later becomes the Oracle; appears in _The Titan's Curse_, _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, and _The Last Olympian_.

I suppose that this is a brief description. They are leaving out a lot of details, maybe how she said the _Next Great Prophesy!_

**C****hiron****:** centaur and activities director of Camp Half-Blood; trainer of heroes, son of Kronos; appears in all five books.

That surprised me. I knew that Chiron was old, but I didn't have a clue that his father was _Kronos_.

I learned more in the last few minutes than what I had learned in my whole life. But one thing confused me: where was Jason, or Piper, or _me?_ What about Hazel and Frank (Rick had asked to see them after Annabeth, who was after Percy)? They weren't mentioned. I scanned the website a little more.

Films, blah blah blah. Game, blah blah blah. Heroes of Olympus, blah- wait a second. _Sequel _series? I clicked the first book, _The Lost Hero._ I again scanned down and looked at the characters section.

**Jason Grace**: A demigod son of Jupiter. Jason suffers amnesia at the beginning of the book and is inclined to call the gods by their Roman names. He owns a coin that turns into a spear or a sword depending upon heads or tails, although it is destroyed during their quest. He is 15 years old and Thalia Grace's younger brother, although Thalia was born under the Greek aspect of Zeus while Jason was born under the Roman aspect, Jupiter. Jason was offered to Hera as a champion at the age of two, which later provoked Thalia to run away from home. Before the start of the book, he lived in Camp Jupiter the Roman counterpart to Camp Half-Blood. He harbors feelings for Piper McLean, but at the end of the book it is hinted that he was romantically involved with a girl named Reyna before.

So there is Jason. He was involved with _Reyna? I did know a lot of stuff, but that I didn't know. I also start to feel a little pity for Reyna. First Nico, and now Reyna? This is messing with my mind!_

**Piper McLean****:** A demigod daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean, a Cherokee movie star. She is Jason Grace's girlfriend and has a dagger named _Katoptris_, previously wielded by Helen of Troy. She also has the rare gift of charmspeak, the ability to persuade anybody to do anything. She is 15 years old and her eyes change color from green to brown to blue. She has choppy, uneven brown hair that she cuts herself, refusing to make it neat.

Yup, that's Piper. She is probably the only girl on the planet who doesn't care about her hair. But the next paragraph caught my attention.

**Leo Valdez:** A demigod son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. Leo claims to be Jason's best friend at the beginning of the book, and although that was a trick of the Mist, he and Jason do become good friends as they get to know each other on their quest. He has a magical tool belt that will produce any tool he requests that can be found in an average mechanical shop. Leo repaired the bronze dragon Festus. He can also create fire from nothing, a rare ability sometimes given to Hephaestus's children. He had a crush on Khione, the goddess of snow, and on Thalia Grace, Jason's elder sister.

I don't know how to describe the feeling. It was like I had a stalker that was a super spy. And they didn't really need to add that last part. Well, it could have been worse. They could have mentioned that I am in love with…

I pushed the thought aside and kept reading.

**Gleeson Hedge:** A satyr who was assigned to watch over two demigods, Piper and Leo, until they could be safely brought to Camp Half-Blood, and suddenly has to guard a third, Jason. He is taken captive after saving Leo's life twice, and later watches over Piper's father after he is rescued. Gleeson is first mentioned in _The Last Olympian_ in a letter to Grover Underwood.

So they include that he saved my useless butt twice, yet they didn't mention that he kills pretty much anything on sight? This is some messed up website.

I looked at the summery of the book. It was pretty brief, and it only included the main plot and important details. If I want to find out more, I need to buy the book.

Buy the book.

I was currently in Bunker Nine. I grabbed a bag of emergency cash (you never know) and ran out of the bunker. I knew that I would have to visit 'The Store', but I didn't care. I was going to buy every single Percy Jackson and the Olympian and The Heroes of Olympus book there.

I exited Camp Half Blood, hailed a taxi, and head for the store that leaves most demigods insane. The store that only the Athena, and maybe a few other brave campers, can get out alive.

I headed, for the first time ever, to Barns N' Noble.

**Please review! I love hearing from you! you are awesome!**

**catsrawesome**


	3. Unsettling Books

**HI everyone! thanks to everyone who reviewed. I have even gotten some suggestions for stories you think Leo should read. Don't worry, I will DEFINITELY have Leo read my I Dare You To Read This story XD**

**So, I am so so so so so so so so sorry that this is short, but the next chapter will be EXTRA long!**

Leo's POV

As I headed into 'Books Galore', my first thought was, _How am I supposed to find ten books in this whole store?_ After wandering around aimlessly for a few minutes, I finally found an employer and walked up to her.

"Excuse me," I said, "Do you know where I can find the series 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians'?"

The woman smiled and then said, "Follow me."

She led me further into the back of the store. We found a small table with tons of books. A book was stood up on display. The cover was of two teenagers, a boy with black hair and a girl with dirty blonde hair, were walking through a cavern, the walls rising up on either side. There was a stream of lava next to them, winged beasts flying above them, and some weird mist was trailing from their feel. They were obviously heading for a glowing door at the end of the cavern. The most unsettling aspect of the cover was the people. Their clothing was ripped and dirty. The look in their eyes was hollow, but there was a spark of determination. They were both supporting each other, and they looked weak. The boy was facing us, as if trying to send a plea for help. On the top on a golden line at the top were the words _The Heroes of Olympus_ and in a circle in the middle of it were a Greek Omega and the words _Book Four_. Just below the line were the words _The House of Hades_ and on the bottom were the words _Rick Riordan_.

I saw various other covers. One was a young boy carrying a rod of light in the ocean, heading for a tall building. It read _The Lightning Thief. _Another showed a boy, younger than the one on the first cover but older than the one on the second, riding a black horse. On this one were the words _The Last Olympian_. My eyes then fell on another cover. On the cover were three teenagers riding a dragon. A _mechanic _dragon. The boy in the back had blonde hair, and was obviously very handsome. The girl in the middle had chocolaty brown hair in a braid, it swaying in the wind. She was obviously very beautiful, but still looked fierce. What unnerved me the most was the boy holding the reins and steering the dragon. His eyes were squinted in concentration. He had curly, untamed hair and a little bit of an elfish look to him.

I knew that the dragon was Festus. I knew that the boy and girl in the back were Jason and Piper. I knew that the boy steering the dragon was me.

I quickly grabbed all of the Percy Jackson books and the Heroes of Olympus books and muttered a thank you to a bewildered employee. When I had everything, I realized that I only had nine books. I realized that the last of the Heroes of Olympus series, the Blood of Olympus, wasn't on the stand.

_Must have sold out, _I thought, _I will come back again_.

I went to check out and bought all the books. Luckily, it didn't even use a quarter of all the money I had, so I could come back here and get more books later. As I hailed a taxi, I looked at the books. It seemed so weird that millions of people have read about me, thinking that I am a fictional character. What _did _they think of me? Did they think I was funny? Did they think that I was annoying? Did they think I was selfish, or weak? I wanted to scream from all of these mixed up emotions.

When I got to Camp Half Blood, I immediately ran into Bunker Nine again. When I got settled, I made some hot cocoa (with a machine made by yours truly), added ten thousand marshmallows, and then poured two containers of whipped cream on it. I then took out the first book: _The Lightning Thief_. I put my hot cocoa beside me and turned to the first chapter.

**In the next chapter, I think I will do something similar to Book Cult by a Stripped Tiger, but only for the first chapter in each book. Expect a much longer chapter next time! please R&amp;R! U R AWESOME!**

**catsrawesome**


	4. Married Furies and Rachel's Evil Twin

**A/N I am so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time!**

**Readers: *Stare murderously while holding weapons***

**DON'T KILL ME!**

**But now I have updated! Leo is finally going to read some of it! I have to give a shout out to Stripped Tiger, who was my inspiration for this story! I never realized how hard it was to type all that up! Please check out Stripped Tiger's story, Book Cult! It is awesome!**

**Now, don't let me keep you from your reading! Enjoy!**

Leo's POV

**Chapter 1: I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

As soon as I read the chapter, I knew that this was going to be good.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

I assumed that the 'I' was Percy. I mean, the series is named after him!

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

Not the best advice, but it would probably keep a demigod from being killed.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

At least Percy, assuming this is Percy, didn't describe most of painful, nasty ways that you could be killed. And I would use a stronger word than 'scary' to describe what being a half-blood is like.

**If you are a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

Don't we all.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it is only a matter of time before ****_they _****sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

I am assuming that 'they' are the demigod-eating monsters.

**Don't say that I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

I _knew _it!

**I am twelve years old.**

Wow, this was a long time ago.

**Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, I private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

A few months ago? So Percy really _did _talk to Rick Riordan before the Giant's War. And there are five books in this series, so he must have seen Rick five times, not including recently.

**Am I a troubled kid?**

**Yeah. You could say that.**

Well, all demigods are pretty much troubled kids. You are just walking down the street, minding your own business, and the next thing you know the same block is under construction for the next few weeks.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when out sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. **

What could possibly go wrong? I still doubt it could have been worse than the Wilderness Trip.

**I know- it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

Actually, I think that demigods and _all _field trips in general mix like potassium and water.

**But Mr. Brunner, out Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy win a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

Sounded like the epic teacher. I wish I had a teacher like that. Even though I only went to school until I was eight, plus the Wilderness School, he would have made school go by faster. And it would have been distracting, so I didn't have to think about… the accident.

I kept reading.

**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.**

The name of the title is 'I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher'. We already _know _that this isn't going to go well!

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went' to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

I wish I was there. With a camera.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool,**

Oh no.

**I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.**

Man. I would have loved to hear more. But if I probably listened to all of it, I would still be here next year.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Sounds appetizing. I am glad there are still a few hours until dinner. What kind of name is 'Bobofit'? I guess it is fitting. And there is Grover. I don't know him very well, and he didn't like hanging out near me because of my powers, so I was excited to learn more about the satyr.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny.**

That makes two of us.

**He cried when he got frustrated. He must've gotten held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. **

It must have been hard for him.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs.**

And now I envy him.

**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

He likes enchiladas? Well, he is a satyr, so I guess that that is predictable.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, **

Nice image.

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

So pretty much, Percy can't move, talk, or touch anything.

**"****I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

Finally, some dialogue.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's ok. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"****That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"****You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Now _I _want to deck her. She sounds like a mixture of the Stolls, Clarisse, and a wolf, minus the muscles. Who looks suspiciously like Rachel.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum toar.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding up through the biid echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered around the thirteen-foot-tall column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a ****_stele_****, for a girl about our age.**

Disturbing. Why would someone want to show this to a bunch of twelve year olds in the first place?

**He told us about the carving on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old.**

Sound like Ares.

**She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

Yup. Definitely like Ares.

**She had come into Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

This sounds oddly suspicious... Mrs. Dodds is probably a monster. That isn't a good omen.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit-**

_Also _not a good omen.

**and figured that I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew that I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

I cringed at those words. I have had tons of experience from after school detention. I couldn't even fall _asleep, _I was so bored. And it should be the other way around!

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of an old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover that I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human.**

Well, he is right about something.

**He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

I stared at those words a second. Was Grover actually being serious? Or was he trying to use reverse-phycology? The latter seemed to make the most sense, but I could tell that Grover was a terrible liar.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele-**

I shook my head at her immaturity.

Then I thought about it.

I guess I can't really talked about who's immature.

**and I turned around and said, "Will you _shut up?"_**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

_Busted, _I thought to myself.

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

Before I could stop myself, a grin started to spread on my face. This kind of stuff happened to me all the time. Even though Percy was my friend, and I did feel bad for him, it was nice to read about someone else having to go through this stuff for a change.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

I felt a tiny rush of disappointment, but I had to give the kid some credit.

Then I realized, _Had I actually called Percy "kid"!?_

**"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Ok, I didn't need to know that.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because..."**

And _now _is in hot water again.

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself.**

I felt a rush of relief. I thought that for a moment I had forgotten that Kronos was a god instead of a Titan. Annabeth would never forgive me.

**"And... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

This story wasn't new to me. After all, I have been at Camp Half Blood for a while, and I learned all about Greek Mythology (against my will, of course). Of course, when I first found out about it, my reaction wasn't, "Eeew!" It was more along the lines of, "How the heck did Kronos even fit all of those children in his stomach without getting fat?"

**"-and so there was this big fight against the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

Even though I hated that Nancy, she did have a slight point. But I hate her, so that is completely irrelevant.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

_Busted, _I thought.

**"Busted," Grover muttered. **

_CALLED IT! _I thought with a mixture of triumph and annoyance. That was _my _line!

Right?

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

_Is he a monster, too? _I questioned, _Or maybe even an older demigod?_

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.**

That was disturbing. Then I started to smile. I had blackmail against the _gods. _The Stolls would _pay _for that!

****The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"****

I chuckled a bit. I didn't know how any of the kids would be able to even _think _about food without throwing up.

****The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."****

****I knew that was coming.****

****I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"****

****Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go-intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.****

Those words triggered something in my brain. That description sounded familiar. But Mr. Brunner couldn't be...

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

I laughed at the familiar word that usually came out of Percy's mouth every ten seconds. Well, that is, when he isn't making out with Annabeth.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

Why would Mr. Brunner think Greek mythology is vitally important to Percy? Does he know Percy is a demigod? Is he a monster as well?

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

****I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. ****

That sounded _awesome!_ Why couldn't have I had a class like that in sixth grade?

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite that fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and that I had never made above a C-in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be _as good; _he expected me to be _better_. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the food traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen before in the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes.**

This must have had something to do with the gods. Why else would the weather be so crazy?

**I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

**Nbody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We though that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from _that _school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

After what he just had to deal with, I didn't blame him.

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump into a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed. too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**

My brain started to fill up with ideas. A motorized café?

_I have got to do something like that!_

After a few minutes of daydreaming, I returned to the story.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

Percy must have used his powers over water. He also must have not realized it at the time. How I envied his blissful ignorance.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

On second thought, maybe being aware of my powers was not so bad.

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

**"-the water-"**

**"-like it grabbed her-"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was ok, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

**"I know," I grumbled, "A month of erasing workbooks."**

I face-palmed. I knew from experience that you should _never _interrupt a teacher who is going to punish you.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. _I _pushed her."**

Way to go, Grover!

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood." she said.**

**"But-"**

**"You-_will_-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"Its ok, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "_Now."_**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. **

Lucky! I could _definitely _use a few blank places.

**The school counselor told me this was part of my ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Of course he was.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Ok, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. **

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

I felt excitement burn up in me. Whenever the main character and the 'Bad Guy' are in a room alone, there is always some big action scene.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the same thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

Percy has common sense! Hallelujah!

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on _Tom Sawyer _from the internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings an claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she looked like she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

My eyes widened.

_She's a Fury! _I thought.

What was a Fury doing posing as a math teacher?

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

I smiled to myself. That must have been Riptide. Percy is saved!

But how does Mr. Brunner have Riptide? He must not be a monster, after all.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament days.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. **

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

That must have been the weirdest battle cry I have ever heard, and believe me, I have heard some pretty strange ones.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if it were made of water. _Hisss!_**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.**

_A pretty ugly one, _I thought to myself.

**She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfer and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

I stopped, then reread that. Mrs. Kerr?

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our _teacher. _Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson.**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy. there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

And the chapter ended there.

I was about to turn to the next page when I heard someone calling my name outside, I sighed. I guess it will have to wait.

As I exited the bunker, I had the strangest and most disturbing thought yet.

Was Mrs. Dodds _married?_


End file.
